The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets - Oxford Companions

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. Review Quotes:"Sweets have a special hold on our senses. Whether it's taffy or turnovers, sandesh or sherbet, maple sugar or macarons, our enjoyment of sweets is informed by traditions and memories. This encyclopedia explores sweet things globally and across time, from the honeycombs our ancestors gathered to the crackly nougatine of today's experimental chefs. But its greatest achievement is that, in over 900 intellectually nourishing pages, it never neglects the senses. Like the medieval subtleties that entertained royal diners with elaborate conceits, this book is playful, surprising, and always-captivating." --Heston Blumenthal"For all of those who are fans of the pleasure of eating sweets and the perplexities of thinking about their surprisingly complex histories, this book will be a necessity. Who had ever heard of a delicious encyclopedia? This is it." --Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker"For all of us who care about sweets, who make them, study them, write about them, take pleasure in them and find everything about them fascinating-from their histories and creators to the cultures, myths, and sometimes magic that surround them-the publication of The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets is a landmark. How we lived without it is a puzzlement; that we have it now is reason to celebrate." --Dorie Greenspan, author of Baking Chez Moi"Like a fresh batch of delicious cookies straight out of the oven, Darra Goldstein's enormous collection of stories, facts, and essays on sweets is a tantalizing delight that is impossible to put down. Whether you are a passionate pastry cook, a curious omnivore with a sweet tooth, or simply an information geek (or all three, like me), you will enjoy reading this book. It is a must for any food, anthropology, or history enthusiast." --Pichet Ong, chef consultant and author of The Sweet Spot"The new Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets tempts the intellect more than the palate. It's a thick encyclopedia crammed with plenty of history, social science, physiology and culture." --Florence Fabricant, New York TimesBiographical Note: Darra Goldstein is the Willcox and Harriet Adsit Professor of Russian at Williams College, having earned her Ph. D. in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Stanford University. She combines her love of literature with a passion for food studies, a field she helped pioneer by founding Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, which has been called a culinary New Yorker for its incorporation of photography, poetry, and art alongside thoughtful articles on all aspects of the foods we eat. She serves as the Series Editor for California Studies in Food and Culture (UCAL Press) and the Food Editor for Russian Life magazine. Goldstein is also a prolific author who has written or edited thirteen books, including four award-winning cookbooks. Table of Contents: Foreword (by famed anthropologist Sidney Mintz) Introduction (by Editor-in-Chief Darra Goldstein) Topical Outline of EntriesThe Oxford Companion to Sugar and SweetsAppendix: FilmsAppendix: MuseumsAppendix: Pastry ShopsAppendix: SongsDirectory of ContributorsIndexPublisher Marketing: A sweet tooth is a powerful thing. Babies everywhere seem to smile when tasting sweetness for the first time, a trait inherited, perhaps, from our ancestors who foraged for sweet foods that were generally safer to eat than their bitter counterparts. But the "science of sweet" is only the beginning of a fascinating story, because it is not basic human need or simple biological impulse that prompts us to decorate elaborate wedding cakes, scoop ice cream into a cone, or drop sugar cubes into coffee. These are matters of culture and aesthetics, of history and society, and we might ask many other questions. Why do sweets feature so prominently in children's literature? When was sugar called a spice? And how did chocolate evolve from an ancient drink to a modern candy bar? The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets explores these questions and more through the collective knowledge of 265 expert contributors, from food historians to chemists, restaurateurs to cookbook writers, neuroscientists to pastry chefs. The Companion takes readers around the globe and throughout time, affording glimpses deep into the brain as well as stratospheric flights into the world of sugar-crafted fantasies. More than just a compendium of pastries, candies, ices, preserves, and confections, this reference work reveals how the human proclivity for sweet has brought richness to our language, our art, and, of course, our gastronomy. In nearly 600 entries, beginning with "a la mode" and ending with the Italian trifle known as "zuppa inglese," the Companion traces sugar's journey from a rare luxury to a ubiquitous commodity. In between, readers will learn about numerous sweeteners (as well-known as agave nectar and as obscure as castoreum, or beaver extract), the evolution of the dessert course, the production of chocolate, and the neurological, psychological, and cultural responses to sweetness. The Companion also delves into the darker side of sugar, from its ties to colonialism and slavery to its addictive qualities. Celebrating sugar while acknowledging its complex history, The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets is the definitive guide to one of humankind's greatest sources of pleasure. Like kids in a candy shop, fans of sugar (and aren't we all?) will enjoy perusing the wondrous variety to be found in this volume."

Contributor Bio:  Mintz, Sidney Christine M. Du Bois is a manager for the Johns Hopkins Project on Soybeans and the author of "Images of West Indian Immigrants in Mass Media: The Struggle for a Positive Ethnic Reputation," Sidney Mintz is the William L. Straus Jr. Professor Emeritus and a research professor of anthropology at the Johns Hopkins University and the author of "Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom," Chee-Beng Tan is head of anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the author of "Chinese Overseas: Comparative Cultural Issues."Contributor Bio:  Krondl, Michael Michael Krondl is a chef, food writer, and author of Around the American Table: Treasured Recipes and Food Traditions from the American Cookery Collections of the New York Public Library and The Great Little Pumpkin Cookbook. He has published articles in Good Food, Family Circle, Pleasures of Cooking, and Chocolatier, and has contributed entries to The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. He lives in New York City. "From the Hardcover edition."Contributor Bio:  Rath, Eric Eric C. Rath is Associate Professor of Japanese History at the University of Kansas and the author of "The Ethos of Noh: Actors and their Art". Contributor Bio:  Mason, Laura Laura Mason is a writer who has published widely on food history and culture. She lives in Yorkshire, UK. Contributor Bio:  Heinzelmann, Ursula Ursula Heinzelmann is a freelance food and wine writer and an independent scholar of food history based in Berlin. She is the author of several books, including "Food Culture in Germany". Contributor Bio:  Goldstein, Darra Darra Goldstein is Editor-in-Chief of "Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture" and Francis Christopher Oakley Third Century Professor of Russian at Williams College. She is the author of "The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture" and "Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia" (UC Press; winner of the International Association of Culinary Professionals 1994 Julia Child Cookbook of the Year Award), among other books.